I get my first Pfizer shot against coronavirus next week Friday. Thus, by the first or second week of April, the CDC says I should be able to go see Grandma and Grandpa, who’ve also had their shots:
New guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published Monday, March 8, offer good news: You can see your family or have other vaccinated friends over, indoors, without a mask (with a caveat).
“If you’ve been fully vaccinated,” the new guidelines read:
You can gather indoors with fully vaccinated people without wearing a mask.
You can gather indoors with unvaccinated people from one other household (for example, visiting with relatives who all live together) without masks, unless any of those people or anyone they live with has an increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19.
In other words, if you want to have other fully vaccinated friends over for dinner, the CDC says that you should go ahead. The reduced risk of infection and transmission on both sides (yours and theirs) makes this a basically safe activity [Kelsey Piper, “You’re Fully Vaccinated? The CDC Says You Can Now Have Friends and Family over for Dinner,” Vox, 2021.03.08].
Of course, Grandma and Grandpa are 160 miles away, and the CDC still says we shouldn’t go driving all over kingdom come, vaccinated or not:
The agency maintained that Americans should refrain from traveling, referring to the organization’s travel guidance last updated on Feb. 16.
“Because of the risk of getting and spreading COVID-19 during travel, fully vaccinated people should still take all CDC-recommended precautions before, during, and after travel,” read a CDC statement provided to USA TODAY by spokesperson Caitlin Shockey.
“While we work to vaccinate more people, prevention measures such as pre- and post-travel testing and post-travel self-quarantine, along with wearing well-fitted masks, will help us prevent spread of COVID-19,” the CDC continued [Morgan Hines, “New CDC Guidelines for Vaccinated People: Agency Still Advises Against Travel,” USA Today, 2021.03.08].
The last lap is always the hardest… but hey, we’ve survived a year of sacrifices; we can keep up our pandemic protections for a little while longer.
I got my second shot of Moderna vaccine last Tuesday, so I’ve got another week to go to getting my immune system up to fully loaded. It is a real relief. Science works! But evolution of the virus will make things interesting in the next years, so we’ve got to be cognizant that this ain’t over.
It will need to be a restricted kind of normal life, but it’s welcome. I have to say that crowded bars at bike rallies are not going to be “normal” by any stretch of that word. Those sorts of events probably should be thrown out for another year or three, if we don’t want to encourage evolution of a super Covid variant. Mask wearing has been found to ward off lots of diseases, so maybe we ought to follow the East Asian countries’ examples an adopt masking in public settings for a time, especially during flu season.
I got word yesterday that my friend, driver, guide through the culture and politics and someone I was looking for ward spending more time with in my future in Ecuador died from the Covid-19 disease. He was semi-retired and drove a cab part-time. His daughter-in-law said that there is little vaccine available there yet, as the rich countries have bought it all up. They have prioritized medical and emergency workers, police and the military, then older folks, but they are struggling to even get the medical and emergency personnel vaccinated. She also said their entire family have had the disease, this despite she, her husband and children having self-isolated on her family’s cocao finca for 3 months.
Other friends I have there say that everyone wears masks all the time. Overall, according to the NY Times data, Ecuador’s current (14-day) infection rate is about 1/3 that if the US. The percentage of their population that has had the disease in total is about 1/6 that of the US. SD’s infection rate has gone up 20% vs. 2 weeks ago. The US infection rate is trending down about 20%. SD continues to be a “hotspot” both in the US and globally. The global rate is trending up about 10% as well. Ecuador’s 14-day rate is about steady.
Get vaccinated, wear a mask, continue social distancing and don’t travel unnecessarily.
I got word yesterday that my friend, driver, guide through the culture and politics and someone I was looking for ward spending more time with in my future in Ecuador died from the Covid-19 disease. He was semi-retired and drove a cab part-time. His daughter-in-law said that there is little vaccine available there yet, as the rich countries have bought it all up. They have prioritized medical and emergency workers, police and the military, then older folks, but they are struggling to even get the medical and emergency personnel vaccinated. She also said their entire family have had the disease, this despite she, her husband and children having self-isolated on her family’s cocao finca for 3 months.
Other friends I have there say that everyone wears masks all the time. Overall, according to the NY Times data, Ecuador’s current (14-day) infection rate is about 1/3 that if the US. The percentage of their population that has had the disease in total is about 1/6 that of the US. SD’s infection rate has gone up 20% vs. 2 weeks ago. The US infection rate is trending down about 20%. SD continues to be a “hotspot” both in the US and globally. The global rate is trending up about 10% as well. Ecuador’s 14-day rate is about steady.
Get vaccinated, wear a mask, continue social distancing and don’t travel unnecessarily. I donlt need more sadness in my life.
Sorry for the double post.
Got first injection yesterday and the next comes April 5th. Not sure what brand it was. Since I am the only human on a section of land, I don’t ask up at home, but do at stores. I do not socialize and haven’t seen my great grandgirlie since last fall.
Cory:
19 March = 1st dose
9 April = 2nd dose
23 April = grandparents
Thanks Cory, for the uplift! Covid 19 will perhaps cause this country/world to
re-consider priorities! Prior to Covid any ‘new’ take on ‘having fun’ advertised with
catchy slogans like “MAGA” caught on quickly. Being forced into semi-solitude isn’t all bad dor the human spirit, really now.
According to wait time for 2nd dose, I received Moderna (28 day wait). Pfizer wait is 21 days.
Got second one of mine a week ago -no problems with either. I see some will not get the shot and as my mother used to say ” go ahead, cut off your nose to spite your face”. My preference would be after June 30, no vaccination card, no admittance to the hospital with covid. Go to the refrigerated truck out back.
M0y wife and I get ours March 26. I’m glad you got yours Cory and don’t take this the wrong way, but how did you get yours early? Teacher?
March 12 first dose Moderna, out in the sticks.
Mid April , should be done.
Expect Dem Governor would ask mask mandate, National Guard ifthis thing is still killing people I
In Jan 23. No caving! Or when Noem resigns iris impeached, sooner!
Act like we are living in 21st Century and leave Neanderthal Republicans in the dust.
Owen, Phase 1D includes college staff as well as faculty.
drumpf/noem body count for March 9th (1885) was 400 bodies moar than Sunday/Monday combined.
Last updated: March 10, 2021, 14:50 GMT
United States
Coronavirus Cases:
29,802,874
Deaths:
540,585
Still a 3% fatality rate.
1477 new enrollees in dumpf/noem body count. March 10th.
From WHO…. After a months-long investigation, the World Health Organization (WHO) has found that wildlife farms in China are likely the source of the COVID-19 pandemic.
These wildlife farms, many of them in or around the southern Chinese province of Yunnan, were likely supplying animals to vendors at the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, where early cases of COVID-19 were discovered last year, Peter Daszak, an ecologist on the WHO team that traveled to China, told NPR. Some of these wild animals could have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 from bats in the area.
The WHO is expected to release its findings in a report in the coming weeks.
Debunking magat myths one at a time.